369 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
1876 .] 
Read the Supplement with this Number. 
The Publishers call special attention to the Supple¬ 
ment, an extra sheet printed this month (making 52 
pages in ail). The descriptions and illustrations of a large 
number of useful articles will give considerable informa¬ 
tion. It will be worth while for all to read tli rough 
what is contained on the first and second pages of the 
extra sheet. Announcements are therein made which 
are of interest to all our readers. It will be noticed that 
all new subscribers for 1877 received this month will be 
supplied with the remaining numbers, issued this year 
after the reception of their subscriptions, without 
extra charge. This fact will help those who are 
proposing to raise clubs of subscribers, to commence 
at once upon their easy worlt, and no doubt very 
many will avail themselves of this opportunity of secur¬ 
ing, with so little effort, some of the useful and 
valuable articles as described and illustrated in the sup¬ 
plement sheet....As Editors, we promise to spare no 
effort to meet the wishes of the Publishers, to have the 
American Agriculturist for the coming year exceadingly 
valuable to ai,i its readers. We trust our readers will 
agree with us, that a Journal like this, going into a 
family for a year, will not only exert a healthful influence 
in stimulating thought and improvement, and thus ele¬ 
vate the mind standard of all cultivators of the soil, and 
of others too ; but that it will also help guard against 
errors, against imposition, and assist all to make their 
labor more profitable. With this view, we invite all to 
lend a kind influence in making this journal even more 
widely known, and in drawing to it as readers, many 
who arc now without its visits. This we ask as a friendly 
favor, aside from the rewards which the Publishers offer 
on a liberal scale to those who respond to their pro¬ 
positions. 
Something About Premiums. 
The American Agriculturist, when it passed into Mr 
Judd’s hands, nearly 25 years ago, had a very limited 
circulation. Having become proprietor, he determined 
not only to give it a reliable character, but to largely ex¬ 
tend its circulation among those to whom it would be use¬ 
ful. Instead of employing agents, as had been the custom 
with other papers, he hit upon a plan which made every 
man an agent, and gave that man a good commission for 
what he might, do in extending the circulation ofthepaper 
—whether he sent in one or one hundred names. Instead 
of paying agents a salary or commission, he offered good 
or useful articles at. much less price, if paid for in sub¬ 
scriptions, than they could be purchased for with ready 
money. Other agricultural papers took up this plan of 
giving premiums, and some of these continue to offer 
premiums. Others, finding the trouble of selecting pre¬ 
mium articles of Ike very best guulily, was more than they 
cared to undergo, ceased to give premiums, and all at 
once became very virtuous, denouncing the premium 
system, and proposing to pay money for new subscribers. 
Our arrangement is this : those who procure 20, more or 
less, subscribers, can have them at a certain lower price, 
or they can have their remuneration in excellent and 
useful articles. When an article is put upon our premium 
list, it. is a guarantee that we think it has merit, and as 
it is offered in our premium lists and brought to the no¬ 
tice of hundreds of thousands of readers, that very fact 
induces the makers of the articles to give us those sent 
out as premiums at a very low rate. Knowing from our 
correspondence that this plan is most acceptable to our 
subscribers we have seen no reason for abandoning it. 
It has allowed those who live in remote places, far away 
from cities, to enjoy many househeld conveniences, farm 
and garden implements, and seeds, which they could not 
otherwise have, and it has enabled those who live in 
thickly settled communities to procure, by the expendi¬ 
ture of a little time, implements, machines, books, 
etc., that they could not otherwise possess. The premi 
um business is a good deal of trouble, and to carry out 
the plan requires the employment of a special force, but 
so long as it meets the wants of so many people, it will 
not be given up. The premium list is not the same from 
year to year, but each October we publish a revised list, 
in which, for good reasons, some articles have been 
dropped, and others added. The premium list, in order 
not to encroach upon the space devoted to reading mat¬ 
ter, is published in a supplement to this" number, and will 
be found of interest to many of our readers. 
Ogden Farm Papers—No. 80. 
BY GEOROE E. WARING, JR. 
There seems to be something like “ a revival ” 
among the butter makers. I have had more letters 
during the past two months, asking about the con¬ 
struction of dairy houses, and the deep can system, 
than I had received in two years before. The fol¬ 
lowing letter is a very good type of those received, 
and the information asked, seems now to be so 
generally desired, that it is worth while to repeat it, 
(with some modifications), although it has already 
been pretty well stated in these papers. 
“I have a good spring of water, convenient to 
my barn, which delivers at the surface of the 
ground, it flows the whole year round, and the tem¬ 
perature of the water is about 50°. I propose to 
build a dairy with a room 10 x 13, the floor being 2 
feet below the level of the ground, and cemented, 
and the walls to be of stone. Will it be enough if 
I make a water space in one side and one end 3 feet 
wide ? I want to accommodate a dairy of 20 cows. 
I propose to erect a wooden room in which to make 
butter. Shall I have water space enough if I use 
cans 30 inches deep ? Is there any danger of get¬ 
ting the milk too cool in such a room ? Will three 
windows, 3 ft. square, one in each side and one in 
the end, be enough ? Will I need any more drain¬ 
age except a drain to carry off the waste water ? As 
the whole bottom will be cemented, will there be 
any disadvantage from its being 2 ft. underground ? 
What butter worker would you advise getting ? I 
think of getting a light horse-power, or dog-power, 
for churning.” — This correspondent goes on to 
give the reason why he is going into butter mak¬ 
ing—he is disgusted with the factory system as 
practiced in his neighborhood ; fast year he sold 
his milk for §1 per 100 ibs., but the firm breaking, 
he lost nearly $300. “ This year they manufacture 
and sell cheese at $3 per 100 lbs , and declared a 
dividend for April of 63 ets. per 100 lbs. of milk, 
May 68 cts., and June 52 ets. That is as far as they 
have settled—in fact there is no settling about it, 
as we see no sale bills, and take what is left after 
they get what they want.” 
Another correspondent in Wisconsin uses a wind¬ 
mill to pump water for cooling milk before taking 
it to the factory, and says there have not been 
twelve nights this summer when there has been 
wind enough to pump what water was needed. He 
thinks he would prefer to pump by hand, rather 
than to depend on a windmill. 
The question divides itself into two branches, 
one, where there is a natural spring of cold water, 
and the other where the water must be obtained by 
artificial means. The experience at Ogden Farm in 
this matter for nearly ten years past, has been with 
the artificial system, and I must say that it has 
worked, on the whole, very well. Being on the 
coast, we doubtless get more wind than we should 
if we were far inland, but with considerable ob¬ 
servation of the use of windmills, I think that even 
where they cannot be depended upon to work every 
day, they would so greatly reduce the amount of 
hand-pumping needed, as to make their use always 
advisable. Our spring is a deep well, which over¬ 
flows during seven or eight months of the year. It 
is about 1,000 feet away from the buildings, and 
the surface of the water at its highest, is about 35 
feet below the milk-house tank, and about 50 feet 
below the barn tank. We use the smallest wind¬ 
mill that is made, (8 feet in diameter), and force 
the water through wooden pipes, (4 inches square, 
with lv inch bore). For the first year or two check¬ 
ed places in the pipe sprung a leak, and had to be 
pinched together with a very simple clamp and 
carriage bolts. For five years past the pipe has not 
needed looking at, and I am satisfied that there has 
been no leakage. During a very long drouth, like 
that of this summer, the water gets so low in the 
well, that we are obliged to economize it, and as 
we have over forty head of stock to water, we can 
take no considerable amount for the milk-house. 
This has been the driest summer that we have had 
since the improvement of the farm was undertaken, 
and from two to four weeks past we have been 
obliged to use ice in the water tank. Every sum¬ 
mer we are subject to a little inconvenience of this 
sort, but for ten or eleven months of the year our 
system works perfectly. Of course, if one has a 
constant spring of cold water at a sufficient hight 
to flow directly into the milk-room, the whole 
problem is solved, and everything is easy. 
To answer the above letter: 1 would say that if 
the ground is dry—not springy, winter or summer 
—then the building may be set with the surface of 
its floor two feet below the ground, thoroughly 
concreted, and have only a drain to carry away the 
overflow of the tank ; but if there is the least ten¬ 
dency to springiness, there should be a good under¬ 
drain laid under the foundation walls, and this 
should have a perfect outlet, to make sure that in 
wet, winter weather, there shall be no moisture 
under aJnd about the walls, to enable the frost to 
heave them, or to ooze through the walls them¬ 
selves. In addition to this, the walls should be sur¬ 
rounded for a width of at least a foot with gravel, 
or small stones, which will prevent the frost from 
taking hold of them. In our experience we have 
had more trouble from the cracking of the cement 
of our water vat, by the heaving of the outer walls, 
than from any other source. For a dairy of 20 
cow's the tank proposed is much to large. It will 
be ample if it is made 3 ft. wide and 10 ft. long, or 
across the end of the building, Indeed, a length 
of 8 ft. would be sufficient—supposing the milk to 
stand 36 hours before skimming. The smaller the 
surface of the tank, the less is the absorption of 
heat, and the more effective will a limited supply 
of water be in keeping down the temperature. As 
the tank is surrounded with thick walls, the only 
material absorption of heat will be at the surface, 
so that there is no objection to its having considera¬ 
ble depth, and I think it would be better that it 
should be 2i ft. deep, rather than 11, although the 
latter would be enough for 20 inch cans, for in the 
case of a slight leakage from any cause, there will 
still be water enough to warm the cans, when it 
stands even a foot below the surface. The water 
should be admitted at one end, and should overflow 
at the opposite end, which will keep up a slight 
movement of the cooler water throughout the mass. 
50° is 4° colder than my stream, which I find to 
answer a good purpose, though I should prefer it 
to be even as low as 40°, were this possible. In 
carrying the water from the spring to the tank, the 
pipe should be laid, if possible, 3 ft. under ground, 
to keep it cold. Enough ventilation is enough, 
and two windows will be quite as good as three. 
Indeed, although we have two windows we use but 
one of them. An artificial power for churning 
will, of course, save labor, but for a dairy of 20 cows 
a dog will certainly answ'er as well as a horse. The 
butter worker that I use, is a table 3 ft. by 2, made 
of white oak, inclined a little to one side, with a 
groove cut along the lower side, and the two ends 
leading the butter-milk to a drip, under which a 
pail is placed. About ten pounds of butter are 
worked at a time, with a paddle of white oak afoot 
long, and with a handle at each end. The edge of 
this paddle is slightly sharpened, and it is used so 
as to chop the surface of the butter, spreading it 
out over the table. Then a sponge squeezed out of 
cold water, is used to sop up the butter-milk and 
moisture that appears on the exposed surface of 
the butter. Then the mass is turned together and 
chopped again, and again sponged ; these processes 
are repeated until the butter is dry. We use Bul¬ 
lard’s oscillating churn, which is a long rectangular 
box, with no paddles or cleats inside. Just a plain 
box, tightly closed at the top; it is moved hori¬ 
zontally endwise, and the cream washing from end 
to-eud, keeps the sides always washed down, and 
thus avoids the accummulation of half churned 
cream, which is very apt to attach itself to the 
sides of any paddle chum, and which, becoming 
mixed with the butter, may make it streaked, and 
interfere with its keeping qualities, for the reason 
that unchurned cream contains a certain amount of 
casein. The wooden room for making the butter 
had better be placed on top of the milk-room, as 
tending to protect it from heat more than a simple 
roof would do. Indeed, if drainage at a sufficient 
depth can be obtained, it would be better that the 
milk-room should be a cellar deep in the ground, 
